The Odysseus Detail

by tyrantOFathens

Mountain Skirmish

Twilight looked over her team once more, two unicorns, three humans, a Tiger that looked at home in their current position, a Nebulastii, a gryphon, and two eager looking Starglom's. They walked down the ramp, into the lush world ahead of them, holding things that would have impressed Princess Celestia herself. Huge trees reaching almost a mile into the sky, their trunks so huge that even Artekæ wouldn't be able to fit around them in his normal form. Sounds of animals reached her ears, birds most likely. Before Twilight had taken more than a few steps, she began to feel how humid it was. Twilight almost completely forgot about the search for Odysseus at this point, going into full research mode. She opened up a report log, and began filing away information.

"Ok, stay together, no telling how long we could be lost in this jungle if we got turned around. Let's move!"

Jorayn looked around the clearing they had landed in, the trees were a lot thinner, most of the heavy jungle up to the north. Instead, he got to go rolling in thick shrubs and brush, wide ferns, and a lot of nasty looking thorn bushes. They seemed to have some sort of fruit though, so that might be worth looking into before they left. True to his past orders, the team split up, far enough to cover ground, but close enough to help each other if needed. Their sole gryphon flew up above, watching all three groups move. It was about an hour into their search when something interesting turned up.

"Captain, sir! Over here!" The group to the right was signaling, hopefully it was a ice cream shop. Jorayn called out to the left group, before making his way towards the right. When he stopped by the three men, he froze.

"Sir... What do you make of it?" One of the men asked, looking from Jorayn to what lay before them. The green floor was flattened, tree branches littered the ground, in some places the ground was churned up, the rich soil spread like black flour. And at the far end of all the carnage, was a bloody, mostly dead beast. The three men from the left group arrived, having similar reactions of freezing up. The gryphon landed, giving a soft whistle. The beast twitched in its last moments, swinging its head around to face the team of soldiers standing near it.

"It's a giant snake, the thing must weigh tons!" The serpent hissed, trying to move, but all that did was stretch out the wounds along it's sleek scales.

"Whatever did this had some sharp knives, man." One soldier mumbled. Jorayn shook his head.

"Not knives, claws, if it was a knife it would have made a finer cut. Keep your eyes open and weapons close, lets hope whatever did this isn't hanging around." Jorayn slung his own rifle, a simple standard issue space marine rifle, and stepped a little closer to the now deceased snake.

"We stay together from now on, except our eye in the air. Move out!" With that, he moved around the serpent, heading farther south.

Artekæ growled at the amount of turbulence shaking their shuttle. Their drop zone was the farthest out from the Argo, and they were drawing closer to the mountain ranges to the far west. A few clouds hung low in the sky, a small layer forming much higher up. A green light flicked on in the shuttle.

"Alright boys! Show time! Form up behind me, keep your eyes open, wings up, and if you fall, just scream into you comm. Someone will hear it." Artekæ shouted to his team as the door slowly slid open. Artekæ jumped first, free falling for a few short seconds before spreading his wings. They instantly caught air, flaring up. As Artekæ leveled out, the rest of the team formed a V shape, with him at the point position. After a few minutes of flying, turning alongside the mountains, they came across a strange sight.

"Sir, there appears to be a nest, what should we do? It seems to house a large eagle, or hawk maybe." Artekæ thought about each possibility, before shaking his head.

"We move on, but be alert, it might not take kindly to us being in its air space." They resumed their flight, before they were interrupted again.

"This is Jorayn, does anyone copy?" Artekæ shifted his earpiece a little before replying.

"Artekæ here, what do you need?" Static took over for a moment while he waited for a reply.

"We came across a giant snake, it was torn open by something huge, talons or claws, the area around was a mess. Any ideas?" Artekæ thought for a moment, before his eyes widened. He began to grow to his full size, and covered his receiver for a moment.

"Assume defensive positions, and keep an eye behind you, we might have company!" His shout was loud enough to be heard above the wind. Uncovering his comm unit, he spoke again to Jorayn.

"We came across a giant bird nest in the mountains, I think we found our culprit. Any other sign of the beast where you are?" More static.

"No, nothing here, it looked like the snake was waiting to die for quite a while, so that bird or whatever it was might be headed your way." Artekæ was about to reply, but an ear-piercing shriek rang out through the air.

"I think we just got its attention. Artekæ out." Glancing to his left and right, Artekæ noted that his team had split into two groups, forming two X's on either side of him. He slowed down until he was in the middle. Growling at the growing number of clouds, Artekæ shouted another order.

"I don't want anyone playing hero, stick together, and guard each others back. There might be more than one, so stay near me. And keep clear of the clouds." As soon as he had finished, another shriek sounded, echoing off the mountains. This one sounded like it came from... above them? Something crashed into Artekæ, and he felt talons scratching at his scales as he began to spiral down. Twisting his body, he shook free of his attacker, sharply turning to face it. It was indeed a giant hawk, nearly as big as he was, with dark brown and grey feathers. Artekæ roared his challenge, pushing towards the bird that dared attack him. He crashed head on into the avian, his own claws tearing at the creature's wings.

He dimly heard the shouts of his men, and out of the corner of his eye saw a second hawk. The ten of them combined could take it on, surely. Artekæ threw the bird from his grasp, sending it down towards the mountain, it squawked in fear as it tried to catch wind under its wings. At the last second, the bird lifted, inches from the ground. Growling, Artekæ gave chase. With one, well placed fire ball, the bird was headed back towards the mountain, trailing smoke and shrieking all the way down. With a loud crash, it landed, tons of rock sliding from the impact.

With one bird down, Artekæ turned sharply, quickly spotting the second one. It was chasing three of his men down, most of the others following close behind, taking shots at its wings with various firearms. Two humans dangled from its claws, one limp, the other flailing around, a pistol in one hand going off every now and then. With a roar, Artekæ charged in. Like an orchestrated plan, the three fleeing men, or gryphon's, dove down under him, while he rammed the bird, giving the rest of his men time to fire off more rounds.

"I got two earthbound, who can catch them!?" A desperate shout went over the comm, distracting Artekæ.

"We got this, keep the bird off our tail." A more raspy voice replied, probably one of the Gryphon's in the group. The distraction cost Artekæ, as the bird's beak ripped across his shoulder, a few scales slicing apart. With another growl, Artekæ reached around with his tail, and grabbed the bird around its neck, and with a quick snap, slung the bird away. An audible CRACK resounded through the air as the bird fell lifeless to the ground.

"Flight Team Shuttle, do you copy, this is Artekæ, requesting pick up." Static.

"Repeat, this is Artekæ, come in." Nothing. Closing his eyes, Artekæ switched back to his men.

"Make for the mountain, we will rest there and treat the wounded before moving on."

Author's Note:

So, this is where the bigger personality changes occur, but hey, it was a different scenario than on board a ship with friends. They will get a bit more set in stone as the story progresses.